Our awards

The public vote on our main award, choosing their favourite from a shortlist of eight much-loved places that are free for our members to visit.

Our panel of experts also choose a Judges’ Choice each year, allowing us to reward a smaller or less open garden that is just as worthy of praise.

This new award, for the collection that has best recognised new challenges, responded to them innovatively, and reimagined how the public experience it, enables our panel of distinguished judges to highlight the work of curators and conservators in our member places.

From repairing rafters to reinstating reception rooms, this prize goes to the rebuilding or renovation project that our judges consider the best example of bringing historic homes back to life, or keeping them alive.

Named for Historic Houses’ former Director of Policy & Public Affairs, who died in 2015 and who was passionate about the educational importance of our member houses and gardens, this prize, awarded by our Learning Advisory Panel, gives top marks to the place that most successfully innovates in educational work and its audiences.

Historic houses are at the forefront of efforts to protect our natural habitats and reduce humanity’s damaging impact on the global environment. From carbon-neutral heating systems to rewilding, planning for lifetimes is second-nature to the custodians of lived-in heritage.